Customer Reviews

Debbie Wiseman: Different Voices

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I first came upon this album on Amazon when searching for Hayley Westenra albums. As a fan of hers, of Stephen Fry and even of Peter and the Wolf I was immediately intrigued by this little hidden gem of an album. The concept is a concert performance and narration to introduce children to orchestral music via catchy tunes and a fun story.

I'm a huge soundtrack fan, from John Williams to Ennio Morricone, Howard Shore to James Newton Howard. Who on earth is Debbie Wiseman and how can I have missed her music before. The music of Different Voices is just plain wonderful. OK, it's written for children and brings to life the tale of a parentally-ignored young girl who makes new friends and saves her beloved city park from mean old property developers. But if she can do such wonderful work for a childrens story I MUST check out her dramatic scores for movies. Stephen Fry is delightful as always and brings his own unique style to the narration. The album was recorded live at a concert performance so there are the usual coughs and background noises in quiet spots.

The music is just superb. I love listening to it with my GrandSon and by myself. Wiseman has incorporated wonderfully whistleable tunes with plenty of happy and sad, raucous and poignant moments. The biggest letdown is the absolute waste of Westenra here. She has one chorus, not even a song and it's repeated too often in exactly the same form. The finale gives some respite but it's the weakest aspect of an otherwise super concert. Sadly, the major disappointment for me is that whole sections of the story and narration are missing. The action is hard to follow in places as events unfold in unexplained directions. I don't know if the narration was complete on the night and just cut to fit the album or perhaps the narration was still a work in progress. Whatever, I would love to hear the entire thing and so would my GrandSon :-)

If you're a fan of Peter and the Wolf or Young Persons Guide... this is a no brainer. Debbie Wiseman is a damn fine composer.